Who'll Win the Game?
by eskj45
Summary: Emma Swan was an enemy of happiness, she has always tried to please her parents and have friends that would stick by her but nothing ever worked out. She has or had a best friend, Killian Jones, but ever since he met this new girl Emma has come second in his life. Will she be able to come first again?
1. Chapter 1

Emma was never a fan of the life she was living, she wanted to be happy and she tried to be happy, but she never was. She had always tried to please her parents, and still does, but they were and still are always more interested in her younger brother, Neal.

ESKJ

Emma had been adopted when she was five years old, at a time when her parents were having trouble conceiving and for one year she had the life that any orphan would wish. She was daddy's little girl always doing things with him like sword fighting with lightsabers and riding bikes in the mountains with him. She may have only been five years old but she was able to do anything a ten year old boy would do. Growing up in the system had done a number on her. When she had first met Mary Margaret and David she was shy and didn't want to talk much with them but by the third time they were together her and David had a special bond and it opened her up to being adopted.

But then a miracle happened. Mary Margaret had received the news that she was pregnant. Six months later a little boy was born and named Neal. After that Emma and her father never really did any of those fun things again and his excuse was always, "Neal's too young for that", or "Neal will be left out", and all of those girly things that her mother wanted her to do she wasn't into.

Now in the beginning of her Junior year at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill she was done with trying to impress her parents. She had gotten straight A+'s all through high school and continued those grades into college. She had gotten a full ride scholarship to the college though the lacrosse team. Now the star forward on the team is living the college life. She was always studying yet attended every single major party that anyone held. She was always traveling for lacrosse but continued to get her amazing grades. She had a best friend, the one and only Killian Jones, who was always there for her to talk too even if they were hundreds of miles away.

Her and Killian met when they were in the 5th grade. He had just moved to Long Island with his older brother Liam and from there they became best friends. She had helped him rise in lacrosse. Starting to play in 5th grade was hard for him, he had the skills but no one welcomed him at first. Then one day a coach saw him and Emma playing around and said, "Son, do you want to be a star?" and of course he said yes, who would say no. From then on you could catch him scoring a goal no matter what team he was playing against. In 7th grade you could catch both Emma and Killian on the varsity teams up at the high school and by the end of their sophomore years they had full ride offers to multiple colleges each but they both chose UNC so they could be together.

ESKJ

It was her first game of the season but something felt different, almost wrong. She couldn't pinpoint what it was. She had done all her first game rituals, put her hair in a pony-tail and then split it into three braids, she had her good luck American Flag headband on, she had eaten a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and 6 oreos for breakfast. She still couldn't figure out what was wrong so she stepped onto the field with her teammates thinking _it's just your nerves Em, everything will work out, it always has._ First she warmed up with the rest of the field players doing 2 laps around the field and then stretching. Then she did drills with Ruby and the goalies. Her and Ruby were always on the same side of the field, you couldn't separate them or take just one of them down. If one messed up then the other one did too. It was always Ruby who would get Emma the ball and then Emma would be the one to carry it down the field and score or it she didn't carry it then Ruby did but Emma was always the one to score. She was left handed so it was much harder for the goalies to stop her.

The game was about to start and then it hit her. Killian Jones was nowhere to be found. He had never missed a game of hers. It was a ritual, she was always at his games and he was always at hers, if they both had away games or if one was a way and the other was home they would always facetime each other the night before and the morning of.

 _Now that she thought about it the last word from him was that he would see her at the game but that was two days ago now. She hadn't even received a good luck text from him. She bet it had something to do with the new girl, Milah. Killian had met her at a party the week all the athletes came back from their short summer break. Milah was on the soccer team, which Killian had never been a fan of but told Emma he could make an acception for her-_ "Emma, earth to Emma, are you here with us? The game is about to start."

She hears Ruby screaming towards her and jogs onto the field, "Sorry, just caught up in some thoughts."

The game starts and ends just as fast. Emma netting 6 goals and tallying 3 assists winning the game in the last 20 seconds. After the team has their meeting and they get released Emma calls Killian. The phone rings and rings but no one ever picks up. She texts him several times but no answers. Then she calls Rob, one of the guys on the team with Killian and he says that he left the house with Milah last night but never came back, he congratulates her on the big win and how well she played but then had to run off to practice. She figures she'll show up to the end of practice and corner Killian then.

She goes back to her house, one that she shares with Ruby and a couple other lacrosse girls. She gets a call from her mom but doesn't answer it, then another one and then texts all of which she ignores. She hops into a shower and changes into shorts and a UNC lax tshirt and lays down on her bed and then sets an alarm for an hour form now and falls asleep.

ESKJ

She wakes up to her alarm ringing and jumps out of bed. She sneaks down the stairs and walks to the door hoping no one will hear her. She just wants to get to the field and ask her best friend why he wasn't at her opening game. She looks around and sees Ruby and Ashley on the couch watching some stupid show and the rest of the girls eating lunch in the kitchen. She opens the door slowly and quietly and slips out.

She gets to the field about 5 minutes later and spots Killian. She's about to yell over to him when she spots Milah waiting by his car. So instead she tries to call him. She knows that he knows that she's looking at him so instead of going to his car he turns towards her. "Swan, what brings you here?"

"Well first off, you missed my game and first one of the season to be exact. Secondly you've not picked up a single call or replyed to a single text I've sent in the past day. Third of all I haven't seen you in days and the last text I've recieved from you is, _sorry can't talk now_ , so what's up Jones."

He's about to respond when his phone lights up, its Milah. He picks up and then soon after hangs up. "Sorry Swan I have to go, talk to you later?"

"Killian, seriously? Whats up with you? We've talked to eachother everyday since 5th grade and have never lied to eachother. Why can't you leave her for an hour? All I want to do is talk to my best friend."

"Swan, stop with this sillyness, I'll see you later but I have to go now."

Her eyes well up with tears but he's already turned around and can't see how close she is to crying. The moment they just had together reminds her of the day her father told her about her brother. _Emma sweatheart I have to tell you something. "In about 4 months you will have a little brother! How exciting is that?"_

" _But I don't want one. What about riding bikes and sword playing?"_

" _Sweety, we can still do all of that, wait I think your mothers calling"_

 _She watches as her father walks away from her to go attend to whatever her mother needs now. She's dying on the inside but no one can hear her calling out for help. She retreated to her room and cried and no one came up until dinner time._

School is starting tomorrow but is she ready to keep those good grades up? And what will she do with out her best friend? Will she be able to fix things or will she fall while trying.


	2. Chapter 2

**So this is my first** **fic, I hope you all like it, I'll try my best to update weekly. Enjoy!**

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Emma was done with trying to be the good girl that everyone always saw her as. She thinks back to that time when she was a young girl trying to impress everyone…

" _Emma dear, what on earth are you doing?" her mother calls out as she walks into the dining room carrying Neal._

 _Meanwhile Emma is at the dining room table with crayons and markers all sprawled out and pieces of paper are thrown everywhere and you could just see how excited Emma was to show her mother what she'd been doing._

" _I'm doing artwork mommy, see?" she's smiling and holds up one of the pieces of paper for her mother to see. She is trying to do something new and girly so she can impress her._

" _Emma darling, artwork is not to be done in the dining room, I have told you this before. Go and clean that huge mess of yours up. I will be back in five minutes and it better be spotless in here. DAVID!" She calls out to her husband who should have been watching Emma while she was gone._

" _Yes sweetheart."_

" _You were supposed to be watching Emma while I was out with Neal. Now look at her, she has made a huge mess that I will have to clean up. I have enough to deal with David. Dealing with Neal is enough, I don't need her making more of a mess in this house."_

" _She is only in first grade dear, she is only trying to please you with her artwork. She knows how you don't enjoy her doing all those sports she loves so she tried something new. What's wrong with that?"_

" _I've already told you. Now go help her clean up and send her to her room and tell her to think about her actions."_

 _Meanwhile Emma is in the next room listening to their conversation, her eyes welling up with tears thinking about how much of a disappointment she is to her mother so she finishes cleaning up and goes up to her room before her father has a chance to come tell her how she has upset her mother once again._

 _The next day she brings one of the pieces of artwork into school and gives it to her teacher, "Oh how pretty Emma. Why are you giving this too me and not your mother, it's almost Mother's Day, don't you think she'd enjoy this as a gift?"_

" _My mother didn't like it Ms. White. She sent me up to my room and told me to think about my actions after I showed it too her."_

 _Emma started to tear up and Ms. White is thinking about how any mother could mad at their daughter for making such a beautiful piece of artwork. She bends down and gives Emma big hug, "Don't worry Emma, I'll treasure this artwork and hang it up on my fridge. It's the prettiest piece of artwork any student has ever shown me. Would you like to work on some more before the rest of the students come in?"_

" _No, that's okay. I think I'm going to stick with sports from now on. I like them better and they are much more fun than sitting around coloring"_

 _From then on Ms. White became Emma's support system. She had helped Emma succeed in elementary school. Even though it was only elementary school Ms. White knew that Emma needed a foundation and if she started to excel in elementary school than it would help her throughout middle and high school. She was at every concert Emma was in and every game she played in but if you looked for her parents they were never to be found at a single one of those events._

Emma can remember that day with her mother like it was yesterday. It was the first time that she had felt like a failure. Although she was only in first grade she was able to realise her mother would never be happy with anything she did even if it was the best she could do. She remembers the day that her world turned upside down and changed for the better.

 _She's sitting at her desk that's in the back of the classroom. Ms. Mills walks into class with a boy and the first things she notices is that he has jet black hair and the prettiest sea blue eyes. She introduces him as Killian Jones who had just moved here from England. Next she sat him at the desk next to Emma and tells her to show him around school during recess and introduce him to the other kids in the grade. When the bell rings for lunch he darts out of the classroom without a word and Emma's stunned. All she wanted to do was meet the kid but she had no chance, she immediately thinks how rude it is of him and how she doesn't want to show him around and is about to go to Ms. Mills to complain when he walks back into the classroom. This time holding a sandwich in his hands and says, "Emma right? I'm Killian, sorry about that, just had to get some lunch for myself."_

" _Oh, it's not a problem at all. Let me go grab my lunch and I'll show you around."_

 _She goes to get her lunch box and water bottle out of her backpack and out falls a swan toy._

" _You like swans?"_

" _It's the only thing I have from my birth parents," she says shyly, "I like to keep it with me for good luck."_

" _Hm, I think I may call you Swan from now on."_

" _NO!" she yells and Ms. Mills looks over to them, "Sorry, um just don't make a big deal about it Jones, I don't want anyone thinking I'm some swan girl or anything, it seems to girly to me."_

" _Swan, you could never look too girly."_

 _She punches him at the statement, "Hey, who says I don't want to seem girly sometimes."_

" _Okay, okay Swan. I think we should go on that tour now. Just so we don't run out of time and we still get to spend some time outside during recess."_

She thinks about that day everyday now since Killian started dating Milah and has forgotten about her. She wonders if there's anything she could have done that would have stopped Killian from going for Milah. But now that she really thinks about it, maybe she's being selfish. Maybe this is all in her head and she just needs to move on.

She thinks about it and decides that it's time to let go and enjoy herself. Yes, she had been to every party and gathering but that's not really what she called enjoying herself. She wanted to drive along the beach with all her windows down, go parasailing, travel around the world, she really just wanted to be free. She wanted to be with Killian Jones most of all. That's really what all of this was about. It was him. He was clouding all of her judgement and he always had. When she first saw him in 5th grade she had this feeling they would be best friends.

She knew that if she dropped out of school she would lose a lot, she would lose her place on the lacrosse team which would take her scholarship with it. She would probably even lose the relationship that she's made with her mom after getting a full ride scholarship. Her relationship with her dad barely exists anymore and the one with her brother is non existent. She wishes that her dad had spent more time with her over the years but after her brother was born no one ever payed any attention to her anymore.

She hadn't even begun the real season for lacrosse yet, it was only the fall season which didn't count for much. It was just to make sure that they were all still in shape after the summer and to get the newbies into the game. She had everything to look forward too this year, she knew that she could bring a NCAA championship to UNC this spring but was it worth it? Did she want to give up her happiness to please others anymore? She wanted to be the reason that UNC won, maybe it would get the attention of her parents, it would definitely get the attention of all the major lacrosse fans and the whole school but she didn't really care about that. She just wanted her parents to care. But was it really worth suffering another year? No.

Emma decides that it's time to start planning her escape from this life and the first step is to get the money, she knew that she needed money for a flight out of the states and once she had that she was good. She could get a job in whatever country she decided to travel to first and then she could use the money from the job to buy whatever she needed. She also needed to try and get Killian to come with her. She knew that Killian's dreams were to be on the lacrosse team and graduate college so that would definitely be a struggle. Maybe if he really cared about her he would try and stop her and get her to stay with him. If he tries to stop her maybe she'll stay with him, he could definitely make her happy.

ESKJ

She does some more thinking and decides that she need a break from all of it and decides to go on a run around campus, that always does the trick of clearing her mind. She runs past one of the libraries and thinks, _I should stop by there later to pick up some books about languages and cultures. They'd probably have some great books I could study up on._ After she runs 4 more miles she stops for a smoothie and stops Killian with Milah. They lock eyes for a split second until he goes back to talking to Milah. She never thought that the day would come where Killian Jones was in a smoothie shop, he had always complained to her that it smelled bad in those places. But now that he's with Milah he's changed from the person she used to know. She hears her name being called which means her smoothie is ready and she darts out of there.

She couldn't stand seeing Killian with that girl, it hurt her more than the first time she realised how disappointed her mother was in her. Emma had been Killian's girl since the 5th grade but now she doesn't even speak to Killian every day. She wishes that Killian would talk to her, she wishes how she could share her dreams of dropping out of school and traveling the world with him. If only Killian knew what she was going through right now. Maybe one day he will.

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 **Reviews Welcome**


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